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I just switched phones and carrier, going from a Huawei P20 to a Samsung S20 FE 5G. I used to be able to easily send PDFs and other files via MMS (as long as the file didn't exceed a certain size).

Since I changed phone/carrier, I am no longer able to send files to iPhone users. I still have the options to send files to other Android user, but that doesn't seem to be an option with iPhones, which is an absolute deal breaker for me as I rely on it quite a lot for work where everyone but me is using an iPhone.

Do you know of a work around or way that would allow me to send PDF files via "text message" as I used to? And I of course mean actual files, not links to cloud drive.

enter image description here

Thank you for your help!

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  • Are you sure you were sending an MMS and not an Apple proprietary iMessage using the Apple proprietary messaging system (for which they refuse to provide an Android client)? Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 14:41
  • I have been using a Huawei P20 for the last 2-1/2 years, which is also on the android platform, so I don't think that I could have been sending Apple proprietary iMessages. If I look in a conversation in my message app, and go back to messages sent last week (from my P20), I can see the PDF that I sent with "MMS" next to it. Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 15:35
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    Could you mention the messaging app you're using (is it the stock Samsung Messaging app)? As of currently shown, it's at least interesting that an app may look like it can detect Android/iPhone devices based on the destination, which I assume is just a normal phone number? Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 16:26
  • Yes, it is the default Samsung Messages app. Until just now I didn't even know you could change messaging app. I tried both Chomp and Textra and I am now unable to send files to either Android or iPhone. Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 16:57

2 Answers 2

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SMS/MMS are both standard protocols that just send text/pictures to other phone numbers. The protocol does neither know the receiver is android or iOS nor does it depend on.
If you can't send MMS picture this is purely issue with your phone.
If someone can't receive MMS picture this is purely their problem and cannot solved by anything on your phone.

Btw MMS do not support file attachments, only audio and images. If you sent PDF via MMS this is non-standard extension (I never seen)

3GPP Technical Specification TS 26.140 Release V16.1.0 (2020-09)

Media formats and codecs

4.1 Plain text
Unicode (e.g. US-ASCII, ISO-8859-1, UTF-8, Shift_JIS, etc.)

4.2 Speech
AMR speech codec
AMR-WB wideband speech codec

4.3 Audio
enhanced aacPlus
extended AMR-WB
MPEG-4 AAC

4.4 Synthetic audio
SP-MIDI SMF
Mobile DLS
Mobile XMF
G.711 A-law codec

4.5 Still Image
JPEG
JFIF
EXIF

4.6 Bitmap graphics
GIF87a
GIF89a
PNG

4.7 Video
MPEG-4
H.263
H.264 (AVC)
H.265 (HEVC)

4.8 Vector graphics
SVG Scalable Vector Graphics Tiny 1.1/1.2
ECMAScript

4.9 File Format for video and associated speech/audio media types
3GPP

4.10 Media synchronization and presentation format
HTML5
SMIL
XHTML

4.11 Timed text
3GP

4.12 Digital Rights Management
DRM 1.0

4.13 PIM
vObject Personal Data Interchange

4.14 Dynamic and Interactive Multimedia Scene (3GPP TS 26.142)
SVG Tiny 1.2
ECMAScript
DIMS Streams
doScript
LASeR

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I changed my messaging app from the default Samsung Messages to Google Messages and I can now send PDF to iPhones again.

From the answers I got earlier, I understand that it is not MMS, despite what it says. But I'll let you guys figure out what protocol it is and who's phone is to blame. I'm just glad it works.

enter image description here

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  • google messages is a messenger like signal that combines messenger + sms in single app. it's interesting that option to send PDF still available even if messenger functionality is turned off. if you can send with wifi + mobile data disabled it is indeed MMS. in theory anything can be sent it's just a matter of en-/decoding and size (protocol) Commented Mar 19, 2022 at 9:35

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